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Editor Jonathan Strahan is working on a new Hard SF anthology and is asking for the names of Hard SF writers...but only those with track records...writers like Greg Egan, Greg Bear, Nancy Kress, and Linda Nagata.
So who would you recommend? Who is your favorite hard science fiction author?
[See also: The new writers of Hard SF]
Comments (45)
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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 12, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal
That's gotta be Charles Stross, Ken MacLeod, Alastair Reynolds, Peter F. Hamilton, Richard Morgan. And John Scalzi. And Tobias Buckell.
Posted by Frank on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 2:44 AM
I like most of the stuff frank likes but i must say i really like greg egan
Posted by ian on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 2:47 AM
Egan and Bear. Can someone point me at a hard Stross novel? I love Stross but I wouldn't consider anything I've read so far to be hard at all. Same for Morgan. I think Frank must have a different definition of Hard SF to me.
Also: Hal Clement.
Posted by Jon on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 4:05 AM
Two "old guard" (hah) names not mentioned so far: Gregory Benford and David Brin.
New guard: Travis S. "Doc" Taylor. A hard SF author who is a real scientist (well, like Bear, Benford and Brin...but he's a Killer T, not a Killer B).
Posted by Fred Kiesche on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 5:19 AM
Two more "new guards": Mike Brotherton and Mark Van Name. I'm not sure how much short stuff Brotherton has done, but Van Name has contributed to both periodicals and original anthologies.
And if we're going to include Clarke, we should also consider Heinlein, Asimov, Clement, Anderson and many more!
Posted by Fred Kiesche on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 5:29 AM
Alistair Reynolds, since he definitely plays with the net up.
I am not sure Hamilton qualifies as Hard SF. Space Opera, yes, but not quite as rigorous as some of the authors mentioned upthread.
Posted by Paul on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 6:14 AM
Philip K Dick used to be my favorite until I tried to read 3 of his books in a row. His style and every present pessimism is dragging.
Asmiov has the Foundation Series (my first forey into Scifi)
Frank Herbert has Dune which I have read and re-read countless times.
And then there are singular novels that I find immensley enjoyable (which I have also read and re-read):
John Steakley's Armor
CS Friedman's In Conquest Born
Audrey Niffenberger's The Time Traveler's Wife
Iain M. Banks' Use of Weapons
So to put it more succinctly: I don't have a favorite single author, but I do have a favorite genre GOOD scifi (which isn't always easy to find).
Posted by Martin on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 6:51 AM
Apart from a no-brainer like Greg Egan, I'd say Peter Watts. Different branch of science, but just as hard - his novels all come with footnotes and bibliographies.
Posted by F. Kassad on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 7:49 AM
Larry Niven got me started.
A decade ago it was definitely Baxter.
Now, I tend to prefer Reynolds.
Posted by Paulke on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Peter Watts, Ted Chiang when he's doing that kind of story...
Posted by MattD on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 8:50 AM
Niven is definitely a favorite. And what little I've read of Reynolds so far (a few short stories and currently in the midst of Chasm City) I am very impressed.
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 10:26 AM
Two of my favorites would be Wil McCarthy and Adam Roberts since they haven't been mentioned yet.
Posted by Eric S. on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Larry Niven and Heinlein are my all-time favorites.
Robert Sawyer is probably my favorite current writer of the hard stuff. If Scalzi keeps up his quality and output, he will shortly supplant Sawyer for me.
Posted by JohnL on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 11:42 AM
Karl Shroeder has six novels under his belt, several of which might be classifiable as hard SF (or at least having strong hard-SF elements, even if there's other stuff in there, too).
Posted by Andrew House on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 1:26 PM
I have to second Karl Schroeder , and also Alastair Reynolds, Peter Watts, Adam Roberts, and though maybe old school, and more social science at times C.J. Cherryh(for Cyteen alone)>
Posted by Joe Parrish on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Jacek Dukaj. A damn shame that he hasn't been translated into English yet.
Posted by Ausir on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Ian McDonald, Greg Egan, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Sawyer and Peter F. Hamilton.
Posted by Carles on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 3:13 PM
As of right now my favorites would be Schroeder,Buckell,and Robert C.Wilson,though I'm not sure if any are considered hard science fiction.
Posted by DFowler on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 4:01 PM
- Peter Watts
- Charles Stross
- Alastair Reynolds
- Wil McCarthy (if you can get him to write)
- Karl Schroeder
- Ian McDonald
- Ken Macleod
Posted by Trey on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Thank you all for the suggestions and comments, and John for putting this up. I did want to clarify one thing, though. When I refer to track records, all I mean is that I'm looking for writers who are known for writing hard science fiction, rather than writers who would be capable of doing so should they want to. There's a whole other book to do some day where you get non hard sf writers to try their hand at it, but this one really is intended to speak to the core of the field.
Posted by Jonathan Strahan on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 6:23 PM
[writers like Greg Egan, Greg Bear, Nancy Kress, and Linda Nagata.]
Linda Nagata -- there's someone who hasn't been heard from in a while.
I don't know if it's her fault or the publishers, but it needs to be fixed - soon.
And if it takes small arms fire, so be it.
Posted by r_daggle on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 7:53 PM
In no particular order:
Robert Charles Wilson
John Scalzi
Tobias Buckell
Robert J. Sawyer
Posted by Hugh on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 10:16 PM
I'm now more confused than ever regarding what is classified as "hard sf."
Best of luck to Mr. Strahan. 
Posted by Weyland Yutani on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 11:15 PM
@Wayland Yutani: yeah, I think many people (e.g. Martin) seem to have missed the "hard" part of the topic... either that, or Alastair Reynolds has written a second track of novels that I've never heard of.
Posted by Jon on Friday February 13, 2009 at 3:21 AM
Stephen Baxter
I wish I could include John C Wright for his Golden Age Trilogy science, but I dont think it fits with what most folks would define as 'hard science fiction.' Wright didnt get enough credit for his take on the virtual, likely because its been so overdone, but he really made sense of how humanity might develop into such technology and how it might change things on very basic levels, sociologicall, politically, economically, etc....Great stuff.
Posted by dnix on Friday February 13, 2009 at 7:20 AM
Peter Watts! Forgot that one...
Cant say that I would ever consider John Scalzi (previous posts) as hard. If he's hard then I want to go ahead and add John C Wright...because comparitively Wright is a porn star.
Posted by dnix on Friday February 13, 2009 at 7:26 AM
Yes, I was wondering what novels of Scalzi's I had missed...
Add David Marusek to my list.
Posted by MattD on Friday February 13, 2009 at 8:21 AM
Aurthor C. Clarke, Michale Crichton, Hal Clement. Clement's "A Mission of Gravity," and "Through the Needle" are two of my favorite books.
Posted by TVSciFi.com on Friday February 13, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Robert L Forward, for his desciption of life on a neutron star and how we might visit it.
Posted by DarrenM on Saturday February 14, 2009 at 4:27 AM
Ted Chiang would be wonderful. In every collection.
Alastair Reynolds, Peter Watts, Greg Egan would all be good picks.
Posted by Marin on Sunday February 15, 2009 at 7:10 AM
Update: Alastair Reynolds has joined the discussion on Jonathan Strahan's page.
Posted by Jon on Monday February 16, 2009 at 4:14 AM